Development of oil-based gels as versatile drug delivery systems for pediatric applications
Ameya R. Kirtane, Christina Karavasili, Aniket Wahane, Dylan Freitas, Katelyn Booz, Dao Thi Hong Le, Tiffany Hua, Stephen Scala, Aaron Lopes, Kaitlyn Hess, J.C. Collins, Siddartha Tamang, Keiko Ishida, Johannes Kuosmanen, Netra U. Rajesh, Nhi V. Phan, Junwei Li, Annlyse Krogmann, Jochen K. Lennerz, Alison Hayward, Róbert Langer, Giovanni Traverso
Abstract
Administering medicines to 0- to 5-year-old children in a resource-limited environment requires dosage forms that circumvent swallowing solids, avoid on-field reconstitution, and are thermostable, cheap, versatile, and taste masking. We present a strategy that stands to solve this multifaceted problem. As many drugs lack adequate water solubility, our formulations used oils, whose textures could be modified with gelling agents to form "oleogels." In a clinical study, we showed that the oleogels can be formulated to be as fluid as thickened beverages and as stiff as yogurt puddings. In swine, oleogels could deliver four drugs ranging three orders of magnitude in their water solubilities and two orders of magnitude in their partition coefficients. Oleogels could be stabilized at 40°C for prolonged durations and used without redispersion. Last, we developed a macrofluidic system enabling fixed and metered dosing. We anticipate that this platform could be adopted for pediatric dosing, palliative care, and gastrointestinal disease applications.